


Fluffball

by Jasons_bamboozlement



Category: DCU
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Stand Alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 12:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11646753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jasons_bamboozlement/pseuds/Jasons_bamboozlement
Summary: Dick finds a cat. Jason is SO not amused.





	Fluffball

“Dick?” Jason calls into their apartment as he walks in the door. When he left, Dick was sorting through case files on the couch. Jason looks around the living room, but sees no sign of his boyfriend. The case files are still scattered around, most of them on the coffee table, some of them on the couch, others litter the floor. Jason shakes his head at Dick’s scatterbrained idea of organization.

 

“Dickiebird?” Jason tries again. It’s not unusual for Dick to abandon a task halfway through, but it can sometimes spell trouble for Jason. He walks to the kitchen and sets down the two bags of groceries he’s been holding. It was decided very early on that Jason would be in charge of grocery shopping.

 

After the solo trip Dick took to the store, they had wound up with three boxes of cereal, an unholy amount of instant mac and cheese, and little else. They had tried a joint trip the following week. That ended with them nearly brawling in the frozen foods isle after Dick insisted on slipping several instant TV dinners into the cart. After that, they’d both decided for sanity’s sake (and the sake of Jason’s intestinal track) that Jason would handle groceries.

 

After unpacking the food and not finding Dick in the kitchen, Jason wanders to the rest of the apartment. As he walks towards their bedroom, he hears Dick’s voice. With a mixture of trepidation and resignation, he turns the doorknob and opens the door.

 

His eyes fall onto Dick who is sitting cross-legged on the floor dangling a piece of string. Wondering where the string came from takes a backseat to what’s sitting on the floor with him. A cat, or at least Jason thinks it’s a cat, is sitting on its haunches trying to grab at the string. It has multiple bald spots and the fur it actually does have is matted and dirty. There’s a chunk missing out of its right ear. As it stands up, Jason notices its tail is a short stub. In other words, it’s completely hideous. Which is why he’s certain his boyfriend has already fallen head of heels in love with it.

 

“Dick?” Jason tries to start out calm. He needs to at least know where the damned thing came from so he can make sure more don’t follow. “Where did the cat come from?”

 

Dick doesn’t even look up, “Hmm? Oh, it was just wandering outside by the stoop.” He’s as enraptured with the cat as the cat is with the string.

 

“I see.” He purses his lips together and nods, “And why is it now _inside_?” He knows exactly why, but he’s really hoping to be wrong.

 

“Well I couldn’t just leave it out there,” Dick says as he gathers the mangy thing into his lap. “I thought we could name it Fluffball!”

 

Dammit, that’s exactly what Jason was hoping not to hear, “Dick, you know we can’t own pets.” Dick looks up at him with heart wrenching baby blues. God he hates when Dick puts him in this position. He’s now going to have to take away Dick’s new playmate because his partner can’t see past a stray project. Jason kneels down so he can be level with Dick, “Our lives don’t lend themselves to taking care of another creature. C’mon Dick, you know this.” 

 

Dick’s not to be swayed, “No, a dog would be a problem. But cats are easy. They practically take care of themselves. We wouldn’t have to do a thing. Please, Jay,” Dick holds the creature up so its eyes meet Jason’s, “he needs us. Pretty please?”

 

Jason throws his head back with a groan, “Goddammit Dick Grayson, you’re a menace.” He scrubs his hand over his face, “Fine, the thing can stay, but only for a week. After that, if it’s not working out, you drop it off at the shelter. Or on Tim’s doorstep.”

 

Dick’s face lights up, “Oh Jay, you’re the best! You won’t regret it, you’ll hardly even notice he’s here.”

 

Jason seriously doubts that last part, but he keeps his thoughts to himself. For the time being, Dick’s ecstatic, and Jason can’t seem to help the small smile that creeps over his face as he watches his lover nuzzle the cat. “Yeah, I’m sure he’ll blend right in. For now, let’s just get it a bath. I don’t want fleas in the apartment.”

 

“Fluffball doesn’t have fleas!” But Dick stands all the same, and makes his way to the bathroom, still holding the cat.

 

“Okay, we _have_ to talk about that name,” Jason says, following the pair.

 

Dick turns back with a glare, “What’s wrong with Fluffball?”

 

Jason rolls his eyes, “Are you kidding me? What sane person would look at that thing and think ‘Fluffball’”?

 

With one hand cradling the cat, Dick runs some warm water in the bath. Jason’s prepared for the worst, but the cat doesn’t put up a protest when Dick lowers it into the water. In fact, it almost seems to like it. Figures Dick would find the ugly _and_ unconventional cat.

 

Dick adds a small dollop of shampoo to his hands and starts to clean the cat’s existing fur. “Well what would you name him?” he asks in between murmured praises to the cat.

 

“I don’t know, maybe Mangy? Scrapper?”

 

“Nope, it’s Fluffball,” Dick says decisively as he begins rinsing out the shampoo.

 

After it has been dried off and combed, Jason is regrettably forced to admit that it is not as hideous as he’d originally thought. In fact, when it curls up on his lap as they’re watching TV later that evening, he finds himself unconsciously stroking it.

 

He sighs. Well this was not how the evening was supposed to go. He’s still planning to stick to the week trial period, and a little part of him would kill to see the look on Tim’s face if he came home to find the thing wandering around his place. But as he sits listening to his boyfriend’s gentle breathing against him and the cat’s continued purring, he realizes the chances of them keeping the stupid thing are rapidly increasing. Dammit.


End file.
